You Don't Know What You Have Until It's Gone
by irishslashlover
Summary: Nick has left Greg and now he realises that it was a mistake. He tries to contact Greg, but with no luck. It turns out that no-one on the team has seen or heard from Greg in days. This wasn't like Greg and Nicky knows that something is wrong. N/G SLASH


_A/N- I do not own the characters from CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and I do not own the programme; they all belong to CBS and Anthony Zuiker._

_I did a song drabble thing, but I wrote the story based on the lyrics, kind of:_

_Song- "All I Ever Wanted" by Kelly Clarkson._

Nick thought that it was time that he got over Greg. Nick had broken up with him because he felt that Greg was ignoring him and that he didn't want to be around him. The truth was that Greg had been planning a surprise party for Nick to celebrate Nick's promotion to Assistant Night Shift Supervisor.

Greg was devastated; Nick was the love of his life, the only person that he had let into his life. He had planned to spend the rest of his life with the Texan, raise a family, grow old together and always be there for him. But that was over now; he had to find someone else to do all those things with, if he could find anyone as good as Nick.

"Hey guys, have any of you heard from Greggo recently?" asked a worried Nick to his co-workers in the break room, "I can't get through to him on his phone, and you know that he always answers it, it's glued to his hip."

"No, actually, I haven't heard from him. Sorry Nicky", Sara was the first to answer. She knew that Greg would always answer his phone, even if it was Ecklie, the bane of their existence.

"No, I haven't heard anything from him either Nicky. Is everything ok between you two?"

Catherine was next to answer. She had a way of knowing when something was wrong with one of the team, maybe it was because she was good at observing people.

As it turned out, no-one on the team had heard from Greg since Thursday, that was two days ago, it was also the day that Nick ended their four year relationship.

Thoughts started to run through Nick's mind, and not happy thoughts. Thoughts of Greg being kidnapped, killing himself or lying dead in a dumpster.

"No, don't be ridiculous Nick! Greg is fine, he's just unavailable, he's probably in bed, watching TV and drinking beer." Nick told himself as he walked out of the crime lab into the dark Las Vegas night.

Nick drives quickly and like a mad man to Greg's apartment on the other side of the city. When he reaches his home, there are no lights on, but Greg's Denali is still there. Nick knocked the door hard,

"Greg, it's me, it's Nicky. Are you there?" asked Nick in his deep Texan accent, there was a hint of fear in his voice, where was Greg?

He decided to ring Greg's phone, he hoed that he was asleep or just ignoring his calls. Nick heard Greg's phone ringing from inside his apartment, the ring tone, of course was Marilyn Manson, his favourite artist. Nick looked in the window and saw Greg's phone sitting on the light oak coffee table. It went to voicemail, "Hi, this Greg Sanders. I can't come to the phone right now, but leave a message after the beep and I'll back to you when I get back to you. Later!" Nick didn't leave a message but rang his phone again, and once more, it went to voicemail.

"Something is definitely wrong here!" Nick thought to himself.

He rang Catherine on speed-dial.

"He's not in his apartment Catherine, his phone and his car is here, but he's not! Catherine something has happened to Greg! I know it! I just know it!" Nick cried down the phone to his supervisor.

"Nicky, calm down. Where are you now? You at Greg's place?"

Now Catherine was concerned, Greg would never disappear off somewhere without telling anyone, he would usually confide in Sara if he was going somewhere, but Sara hadn't heard from him in a few days.

"Yeah, I'm at Greg's. Cath, please get here quick! And bring everyone!" Nick hung up on Catherine and he waited anxiously for her to arrive with a team.

A group of twenty people arrived to Greg's apartment, including Catherine, Sara, Captain Brass, Hodges, Wendy, Henry and Bobby. Sara looked as though she was going to burst into tears. Greg had always been one of her closest friends, ever since she arrived at the crime lab ten years ago; he was one of the first to welcome her into the family. Hodges, who never missed an opportunity to make fun of Greg, seemed horrified that the ex lab rat was missing.

"Right people, this is what we're gonna do," Capt. Brass grabbed the attention of everyone, "Catherine and Sara are going to search Sanders' place, Hodges and Wendy are gonna explore the perimeters for evidence, Henry is going to go with Mitch and Bobby is going to with Detective Vartann to search the strip. Now, everyone, get going, we have a CSI missing and finding him is our top priority tonight!"

Everybody followed Capt. Brass's orders and went to their assigned areas. Brass turned around to face a puffy eyed Nick.

"Nick, you go home, we'll let you know as soon as we discover something."

"No, I'm staying here Jim. What if you need me to tell you anything about stuff in his apartment? No, I'm staying here!" Nick replied as he walked towards Greg's front door.

"Nick, GO HOME! Wait by the phone in case he rings you, or we ring you. GO! NOW!" Brass commanded as pointed to Nick's car.

Nick did as he was told, he got into the car, but he didn't go home, he drove to the strip and searched all the casinos. No luck. He decided to try the bars and clubs, even in the rough parts of the city.

Nick pulls over on the side of the road. He slams his left hand on the steering wheel so hard that excruciating pain travels up his arm.

"ARGH! Damn it Nick! Why did you have to do this to him! Why were you so stupid to leave him! He's all you ever wanted!"

Just then, Nick hears a shot come from the street ahead of him. He starts the engine of his car and drives up, the suspect fleeing the scene. He gets out of the car and runs after the guy, but it's too late, he's already gone. Nick turns around and rushes back to the victim. He turns the man around and he is horrified to see that the victim is none other than the young man that he was searching for, Greg.

"GREG! GREG! TALK TO ME SWEETIE!" screamed a distraught Nick. He had finally found Greg, but not in the way that he wanted to.

"Nicky? Is that you? I'm so sorry Nicky." was all that Greg could manage to say.

Only then did Nick notice the gunshot wound to Greg's chest, a red river of blood flowing from the wound. Nick removed his blue and white striped shirt and pressed it onto the wound with one hand. His free hand grabbed the cell phone from his left jean pocket.

"911 Emergency Services. How can I help you?" the phone operator on the other side of the line asked.

"I need an ambulance to the corner of Cameron Street and West Reno Avenue. A CSI has been shot in the chest, there's lots of blood. Please get here quick!" Nick informed the woman.

"We'll be there as soon as possible sir."

"Thank you but hurry!" Nick closed he phone.

"Greg, honey, they're coming now, just hold on. You'll be at the hospital in a few minutes." Nick struggled to fight back the tears that had been building up when he first saw the man he loved lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood.

"Nicky, I love you." Greg cried, his tears mixing with the blood on his face.

"Shhhhh, don't talk like that Greg. Don't talk like you're not gonna make it through this, because you are."

He rubbed his hands through Greg's bloody, curly hair. Nick couldn't hold the tears back any longer, they ran down his face and landed on his blood stained shirt.

Nick heard the sirens of the ambulance coming and looked up to see that the ambulance was followed by police cars and the CSI vehicles.

"Look Greg, they're here now, just hang a bit longer, ok? Do you hear me G?"

Greg didn't respond, his body was motionless. The paramedics moved Nick out of the way to attend to Greg. They checked his vitals and got equipment from their kits and the stretcher and trolley from the back of the ambulance.

"We've got a pulse! It's weak, but it's there!" called out the tall male paramedic. The other paramedics rushed over, applied bandages to the wound while getting Greg onto the stretcher and then onto the trolley. They lifted him into the back of the red and white ambulance and they shut the heavy doors behind them. The sirens went off once again as they left for the hospital.

"Nicky. I'm sure that he'll be fine. C'mon, we'll take you to the hospital, they're bringing him to Desert Palm Hospital, it's only five minutes away. We'll have to take your clothes there for evidence though. C'mon", Sara wrapped her arm around Nick's waist as she tried to help the heavier man to stand up and go with her. When he finally stood up, he realised that his hands, along with every other part of him was covered in Greg's blood.

The gang arrived to the hospital a few minutes after Greg was rushed into surgery. Nick was given a pair of scrubs to change into when he had put his own blood stained clothes into the brown paper evidence bags that Sara had provided him with. Nick handed the bags to Sara, who was waiting outside the male bathrooms,

"That's everything Sara. Get them back to the lab quick and find out who did this to him. I can't imagine life without him Sara, I don't know what I'd do if wasn't here anymore!"

"Don't worry Nicky, we'll find him. You just wait in the room for any news and ring me when you find out anything, ok?" asked Sara, as she wrapped her arms around Nick, not wanting to let go of him.

When Sara finally did let go of Nick, he could see the tears in her eyes. One tear escaped and Sara gave a little grin and turned to leave.

It was four hours before Nick heard any news about Greg's condition. The doctor came out to meet him and to inform him that Greg was lucky to be alive, as the bullet had punctured an artery and that he had lost a substantial amount of blood.

"But he's going to live, right Doctor? You said that he was lucky to be _alive_," Nick emphasised on the "alive" to try and get his point across, "that means that he'll live. He's going to be ok."

"Well, so far it looks good. We were able to retrieve the bullet and repair the damages, but with injuries like what Mr. Sanders suffered, it is difficult to say. We'll be monitoring him for the next few days. Would you like to see him, Mr. Stokes?"

"What a stupid question!" Nick thought, of course he wanted to see him! It was his fault that this had happened to the man that he loved!

Nick walked slowly into the room that Greg was in. He was shocked to see that Greg, the ex lab rat, now Level 3 CSI, was hooked up to machines and different coloured wires and that a tube was coming out of his mouth.

"Greg!" Nick whispered, he couldn't move with the disbelief of it all. Once again, tears started to gush from Nick's eyes and down his face. He was surprised that he still had enough water in him to produce tears after all the crying that he had done that day.

Nick went and sat in the pink-cushioned chair that was beside Greg's bed. He picked up Greg's lifeless hand and held it, he wasn't letting go of it ever again; he had learned his lesson.

"C'mon Greggo! You've made it through things before; the lab explosion, the beating which nearly left you in a coma! C'mon, you have to make it through this! Please G!"

Nothing had changed in the following days, Greg was still hooked up to the machines and wires, the doctors recorded his stats, they said that everything was normal, nothing was declining.

"Greg, now is the time to wake up, please!" pleaded Nick with the unconscious Greg.

He stroked Greg's sandy blonde hair and kissed him gently on the forehead.

"Hey Nicky, how's he doing? Any improvements?"

Nick turned around and there was Sara standing in the doorway. She looked nearly as bad Nick did; black marks under her eyes from sleepless nights, her eyes were also puffy from crying so much and it looked like she hadn't showered in days.

"Nothing yet, but he's not getting any worse, so I guess that's a good thing, right?" he asked Sara and then turned his attention back to Greg.

"Yeah, that is a good thing. You want a coffee from the canteen Nicky?"

"Yeah, that would be nice, thanks Sara."

"No problem Nicky. I'll be back in few minutes." And Sara left to get the coffees for her and Nick.

Suddenly, Greg's handed jerked. It happened again.

"Greg! Honey!" shouted Nick as Greg stirred back into consciousness. He ran to get the doctor and they rushed back into the room.

Greg's eyes started to open, flickering as they adjusted to the light after being in the dark for so long. He tried to speak, but the tubes were still in his mouth. The doctor was quick to remove them.

Sara saw the two of them talking when she came back with coffees but decided to leave them alone; they had a lot to discuss.

"Nicky?" asked Greg, his voice all hoarse and groggy.

"Yeah Greg, it's me, it's Nicky! I knew that you would make it through this! I told you!" Nick replied as he leaned down to kiss Greg on the lips.

"I'm so so so sorry Greg. I never meant to hurt you or for any of this to happen to you! You're moving back in with me G! And I'm not taking no for an answer! I love you Greg Sanders! You're all I ever wanted!"

"I love you too Nicky! And I wasn't going to say no, you fool!"

Even when Greg was recovering from a near death experience, he could still be funny, and that was why Nick loved him so much.


End file.
